Sunday, November 11, 2012

Silent Sundays: The Black Pirate (1926)

If you have ever read about Douglas
Fairbanks I am sure that besides reading that he was married to Mary Pickford
and the two were Hollywood royalty you would have come across that he performed
all his own stunts. Seems boring to read since so many actors and actresses
throughout the history of film have done their own stunts. Before I had watched
The Black Pirate I felt the same way.
But now I can see Douglas Fairbanks was an acrobat, he was lighter than air and
completely graceful. He made climbing up walls and rope to reach his lady love
look flawless and simple.

A
gang of pirates has been ravaging the seas. They board ships, take all the
loot, and set fire to ship while her surviving captured crew is tied up to the
mast. Only two survivors were able to get off the ship and swim to safety. The
Duke of Arnoldo (Fairbanks) and his father make it onto an island. Unfortunately
Arnoldo’s father dies. He vows to seek revenge against the pirates who killed
his father.

The
pirates have come to the same island Arnoldo is on to bury their treasure chest
from the ship. Arnoldo sees this as an opportunity to see his revenge. He
revels himself to the pirates and says he wants to join them. The pirates make
Arnoldo prove he can join them by fighting one of them. Arnoldo swiftly defeats
the pirate with several tricks and tactics. To really prove himself he tell the
pirates that he can capture a ship all on his own.

Arnoldo
take the ship over with ease. The pirate board the ship. Arnoldo cannot bear to
see the crew of the captured ship being hurt and does not want to see the ship
burned down. He yells out to the men that they can get a lot more money if they
hold the ship for ransom. A woman named Princess Isobel in on board. Some men
find her and want her for their own including a nasty man named MacTavish
(Donald Crisp). He plots to do anything he can to have Isobel for himself.
Arnoldo has another ship sail out to inform the governor of the ransomed ship.
MacTavish has one of his men make sure that the ship never reaches the governor
telling the man to blow it up.

Arnoldo
makes sure that the Princess will be sent ashore the night the other ship
leaves. MacTavish sees what Arnoldo is doing with the princess. MacTavish has
Arnoldo and the princess brought back onto the ship. He turns all the men
against the new pirate immediately. Now the princess is truly in danger of the
men on board since there is no one to defend her. MacTavish and the pirates
send Arnoldo to the plank but Arnoldo has stolen the key to the handcuff. He
manages to swim to shore to help.

Of
course this being a pirate adventure film as well as a love story Arnoldo and a
crew of natives are able to save the ship and the princess. And Arnoldo asks
the princess to marry him since he is a duke.

The Black Pirate was good. I found it a
little boring and long. Douglas Fairbanks was awesome. His stunts were amazing.
No leading actor today would dare do the stunts that Fairbanks did in this
film. I can see why Fairbanks was so popular he was daring and charming and I have
to say even a little handsome. The direction in the film was good there were
some great scenes. I suggest seeing The
Black Pirate at least once since, as I said, it was a little boring and
long. It is worth seeing Douglas Fairbanks in action.

About Me

I am une cinephile to every inch of the word. I started this blog to share my love for movies and what I have learned about them along the way. I like and watch all kinds of movies. For the movie lover in all of you out there, I hope you enjoy this blog.